Ma Si-tsang (2 April 1900 – 21 April 1964), born Ma Pak-lo in Guangzhou to a family from Shunde, Guangdong, was a Cantonese opera actor and filmmaker known as a grand master of the form. He studied the Confucian classics at a Wuchang academy as a child, returned to Guangzhou after the 1911 revolution, and after school worked as an apprentice in Hong Kong and trained at the Taipingchun opera school, using stage names such as Guan Shichang. His love of opera led him to run away from home to learn the craft, and he studied under the celebrated actor Liang Yuen-hang. Noticed in the 1920s by the actor Chin Lei-kui, he made his name in the play Jia Ou Bing Rong, and by the 1920s and 1930s he was a star across Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, able to play martial heroes, clowns and even female roles. He created the 'Ma voice', among the best-known Cantonese singing styles, and from 1935 moved into films, beginning with Wild Flower's Fragrance, adapted from his own opera, then filming several of his signature operas including The Angry Young Master (1937) and The Bandit Prince (1939). During the war he toured with his troupe around Guangzhouwan and Guilin, training the young Hung Sin-nui, whom he married. After the victory he returned to Hong Kong and kept acting in both opera and modern films. In 1955 he settled in Guangzhou with Hung and headed the Guangdong Cantonese Opera Theatre, also serving as a national committee member of the Chinese Federation of Literary and Art Circles and vice-chairman of the Guangdong federation; the following year he took the reworked opera The Academy to Beijing for a performance seen by Mei Lanfang, Xia Yan and Premier Zhou Enlai. He filmed The Story of the Academy (1957) and, in his last screen role, Guan Hanqing (1960); he died in Beijing on 21 April 1964.
Famed for his 'Ma voice' and chou-sheng roles, Ma Si-tsang was called the grand master of Cantonese opera. Adapting many of his signature opera hits into films spread the form widely on screen, and with Hung Sin-nui he fostered a two-way exchange between opera and cinema.
Achievements
- 1935 · His first film, Wild Flower's Fragrance, was released, adapted from his own opera
- 1944 · Married the actress Hung Sin-nui
- 1955 · Settled in Guangzhou with Hung Sin-nui and became head of the Guangdong Cantonese Opera Theatre